Hooters
by upncomer
Summary: After a visit from an old friend, Booth looks through some old pictures and finds out something interesting about his partner.


"I just don't understand how women can put themselves in a position to be objectified like that," Brennan huffed as she and Booth walked through the gardens of the Jeffersonian. It was a beautiful day out, and rather than drive to the diner, they'd decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather.

"Oh come on Bones, those girls make a lot of money at what they do. I don't see how it's any different from those guys who work for Chippendales, and you never hear men bitch about how demeaning that is." Brennan turned on Booth with a look of indignation on her face.

"It is completely different."

"No, it's not. In both cases, they take their clothes off and dance for money. How is one different from the other?"

"It's different because there's not a stigma attached to men who strip for money, and yet the women who do the exact same thing are thought of as sexually promiscuous, or women who don't have any other options available to them."

"Well if you're going to talk about the objectification of women then why don't you just throw in Hooters girls? In both cases they know they're hired for their…assets." Booth held up his hands in front of his chest and grinned at the glare Brennan shot his way.

"Hooters girls are completely different from strippers and I'd thank you to not put them in the same category."

"The only difference between a girl working at Hooters and a stripper is the amount of clothes they wear. That's it. Both are making money off of their appearances."

"Can we just drop the subject, please?" Booth paused to look at his partner. She had a neutral expression on her face, but he could tell that she was mad.

"Well, it looks like I'm not the only one with hang ups."

"I don't have hang ups in regards to sex or objectification unlike you."

"Hey, just because I don't want to talk about my sex life doesn't mean that I have hang ups. There are just some things that don't need to be discussed in public."

"Oh come on Booth. Look at your attitude toward the pony play."

"You agreed with me that what they were doing was crappy sex, and anyway it's not like you always recognize an invitation for role play when it's offered."

"Of course I do. I told you that I've indulged in role play several times as part of foreplay."

"And I'll bet that you discussed it completely beforehand."

"As a matter of fact, yes. I am spontaneous but I like to work out the details of a fantasy. You should know that from our undercover work."

"Yeah, okay Bones. Whatever. Look, I'll see you tomorrow. I'm meeting a buddy of mine who's in town for the weekend."

"Okay. Are we still meeting tomorrow for breakfast?"

"Yes. You don't think I'd cancel and not tell you do you?"

"No, of course not. What time should I expect you in the morning?"

"I dunno, around eight I guess." Booth flashed her a smile as he turned to head to the parking structure.

"I'll see you then." He offered her a quick salute and walked off, whistling. Brennan watched him leave, still curious about what he meant when he said that she didn't know an offer to role play when it was offered. With a shrug, she headed back to the lab, effectively wiping the thought from her mind as she focused more on thoughts about her latest body from bone storage.

XxXxX

"…so she comes back in, soaking wet and furious because in an effort to make sure she was parked on the right side of the street, it didn't occur to her that she could leave the car in the garage. Man, it was raining so hard…" Brad Stevens laughed, wiping tears away as he did so. Booth watched his buddy and grinned. It had been years since they'd seen each other, and with his buddy still in the army, they always seemed to be on opposite coasts.

"Come on, leave Karen alone."

"I'm telling you, I used to think blonde jokes were a little mean until I met her. Don't get me wrong, I love her, but man she isn't the brightest crayon in the box."

"That seems a bit harsh." Brad took a swig of beer and looked at Seeley.

"Seel, the woman called me once because she was locked in her car and couldn't get out." Booth started to laugh.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"I'm completely serious. She was in hysterics until I told her to just pull on the door handle."

"Oh man, that would drive me crazy, not that my partner doesn't do that on a daily basis." Brad's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Dude, when did you come out? I never would have thought…"

"No, my partner at work, Temperance. She's brilliant, but she can drive me up the wall sometimes."

"Ah, good, cause for a minute there…."

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Jerk."

"Right back at you man. Speaking of geniuses, you remember my bachelor party?"

"Yeah like I could forget that. You're the only person I've ever seen that could get an entire party thrown out of Hooters." Brad snorted and shook his head.

"Hate to tell you this man, but getting us kicked out was all your doing."

"It was not."

"I wasn't the one copping a feel on the waitresses when they walked by."

"Hey it was just the one."

"And you had to pick the Gloria Steinem of Hooters to hit on too."

"In my defense, I was drunk."

"Yeah, not so drunk you couldn't stop yourself from touching her."

"You were the one to bet that I wouldn't do it. You knew how I was back then." Brad raised his hands in defeat.

"Alright, fine. It was all my fault that we got kicked out of Hooters. Your gambling addiction had nothing to do with it." Both men were silent for a few minutes before Brad glanced at the clock. "Shit, it's late. I need to get going."

"It was good seeing you man." Booth stood and clapped his buddy on the back before the pair shared a brief hug.

"Yeah, let's not make it so long between visits next time."

"Sounds like a plan." Booth showed his friend to the door, waving as he headed down the hallway. "Tell Karen I said hello."

"Will do buddy." Once Brad was on the elevator on his way to the street, Booth headed back into his apartment. He cleaned up the beer bottles on his coffee table, and once the room was straightened, he headed for his bedroom. After digging through his closet, he pulled out a dusty box from somewhere near the back.

Grinning he brought the box to his bed and pulled off the lid. Inside were loads of pictures, each one holding their own story. There was one however that he was looking for. Someone at the bachelor party had a camera and snapped several pictures that evening.

Booth glanced at a few during his search, his mind going back to that night. Brad was stationed in Chicago, and met his wife there. Once he called Booth to announce the fact he was getting married, the rookie FBI agent agreed to be there for the bachelor party and wedding.

Why Brad chose to go to Hooters he'd never know, but the evening had been fun regardless. Their waitress was hot, though not necessarily someone he would have sought out to date. No, at the time, he was still attracted to blondes only. This girl however was stacked and had a temper to go with her red hair.

Finally coming across what he was looking for, Booth looked at the picture and his jaw dropped. There was no way he was seeing who he thought he was seeing in this picture, and yet there she was with his hand firmly in place on her way to perky behind.

XxXxX

Brennan looked up from the examination table as her partner swiped his way onto the platform. She frowned as he glanced at a picture in his hand and then back at her. She wasn't the only person to notice the odd look. Cam, Angela and Jack noticed too.

"So Booth, what's so puzzling about the picture in you hand," Angela asked as she moseyed over to his side to see the picture.

"Did you talk her into this Angela?" The artist glanced at the picture and let out a loud guffaw, drawing more attention from the rest of the team.

"I take absolutely no credit for that believe it or not."

"Take no credit for what," Brennan asked as she pulled off her gloves. She was intensely curious about the photograph now.

"Remember the 'research' you did for your master's degree on the objectification of women in western societies?" Brennan paled and raced over to see the picture in her partner's hand. Sure enough, there she was, the unhappy recipient of a too-handsy customer.

"Where did you get that?" She snatched the picture away from him and looked at it again.

"How come you never told me you were a Hooter's girl," Booth grinned even as she shot him a death glare. Hodgins however perked up at the mention.

"Dr. B worked at Hooters? I want to see." He hurried over and skidded to a stop next to the anthropologist, completely ignoring the look she was giving him. "I've got to say, time's been really good to you."

"So that's why you were so adamant that Hooter's girls are different than strippers? Oh that's rich," Booth said and started laughing.

"I only worked there in order to get first hand experience in regards to the way in which women are objectified for a thesis."

"I'm sure that's the reason you worked there Bones," her partner said as he rocked back onto his heels in amusement. "For what it's worth though, I thought you were quite cheeky."

"Booth," she squawked in protest as he swatted her on the backside and left the lab, whistling. Cam crossed her arms and smiled in amusement as Brennan looked over at her team, completely scandalized. When no one jumped to her defense, Brennan left the platform and headed to her office, muttering under her breath.

"It won't work Dr. Brennan," Cam said, making Brennan turn around.

"What won't work?"

"Trying to find something embarrassing about Booth, and I have to agree with Hodgins."

"Agree with him about what?"

"The years really have been kind to you." Brennan growled and left for her office as the team on the platform started laughing. Oh, she'd find something on Booth if it was the last thing she did.


End file.
